Eden Alternative founder suggests adoption of term
'eldergarden'

Even a bomb scare didn't frighten away more than 200 people from
all over the state who attended "Life Worth Living: Creating Meaning
in Later Life," an Oct. 30 conference at Washtenaw Community College
co-sponsored by the Turner Geriatric Clinic. The ke ynote speaker was
Bill Thomas, a New York geriatrician and creator of the Eden
Alternative, a holistic, humanistic approach to nursing home care.

"Once upon a time," Thomas began, relying on the storyteller's art
more than standard studies and statistics to show how more than 1.6
million institutionalized older Americans who need daily care and
medical attention suffer from the plagues of loneline ss,
helplessness and boredom. Medical treatments and various therapies
can improve their physical condition, he said, but their desire to
live must be nurtured, too.

"The terms 'nursing home,' 'skilled nursing facility' and
'long-term care facility' are headed for the dumpster," Thomas said,
who spoke in shirt sleeves, with frankness and passion, eliciting
applause and laughter from the crowd of nurses, therapists an d
program administrators. "We should start to use the term
'eldergarden' instead."

"Edenizing" a nursing home involves introducing children, plants,
animals, music and laughter into daily life, with the goal of making
the atmosphere more like home than an institution. But the approach
goes much deeper, Thomas emphasized. It includes nurturing the
front-line caregivers of nursing home residents. "The way management
treats staff is the way staff treats patients," he said.

Since the demand for seats exceeded the capacity of the hall, his
presentation was videotaped. Ruth Campbell, associate director of
social work and community programs at the Turner Geriatric Clinic,
plans to schedule a free screening for those intereste d in learning
more about the Eden Alternative.